Safety-check.



J. P. ADAMS.

SAFETY CHECK.

APPLICATION TILBD 11110.21, 1912.

1,079,282. Patented Nov. 18, 1913.

GNVSGOHL M3 NIN nrwsnom. mmm a N F7- ADAMS COLUMBIA PLANOURAPHco.,wAslllNuTON. D. CY

"JAMES PIERCE ADAMS, OF SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA.

SAFETY-CHECK.

Speccation of Letters latent.

Patented Nov.`1 8, 1l 913.

Application filed December 21, 1912. Serial No. 738,102.

To all @Li/07a 'it may conce/n Be it known that I, JAMES P. ADAMS, acitizen ot the United States, residing at Sioux Falls, in the county othiinnehaha and State ot' South Dakota, have invented certain new anduse't'ul mprovements in Safety-Checks, ot which the :following is aspecification, reference being` had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in checks or other`tiuaiu-,ial instruments and more particularly to that class of bankchecks known as safety-checks, the main object ot' the invention beingto provide a simple torm ot check or the like in which a portion of thesame may be torn ottl in order to indicate by the part that rcmains anamount not less than that for which the check may be drawn.

Another object ot the invention is to provide a safety-check which willpossess advantages in points oit etliciency and durability, isinexpensive of manutactl'lre and at the same time is simple inconstruction and operation.

lV ith the above and other objects in View, the invention consists inthe novel features o't construction and the combinatitni and arrangementot parts to be hereinafter more 'fully described, pointed out in theclaims and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is aface view ol' a blank check constructed in accordance with my invention,and Fig. 2 a 't'ace view ot a slightly diti'erent Storm, designed to beused tor checks or drafts oit larger' denominations than Fig. 1. i

Referring more particularly to the drawings, l indicates the blank otthe check which may be ot any well known :form which .is provided withthe protective scale portion 2 at one end, the miniature or reducedscale G at the other ond, the inch scale 5, the printed reference to thedenominations ot the various lengths, and the printed instructions tothe toller. In this torm the scale 5 indicates that the main body oitthe check is 7 inches in length and the protective scale 2 is dividedinto three columns ot' value indicating characters, each column beinginch in width making the entire check, together with the scale 8-1;inches in length. This form of check cannot be made payable for morethan ten thousand nine hundred ninety dollars. It the check is drawn:tor an amount oi' $000.00 or less, the

entire column indicating thousands would be removed, leaving the checkonly 8 inches in length. 'l`herelore., it an attempt were made to raisethe ligures upon the protective scale so as to make them read thousands,the inch scale 5 would prevent the fraud because a check ot $1000.00 ormore must be S-.dlv inches in length. And again, if an attempt were madeto alter the figures and words upon the itace ol. the cheek whichspecify the relative lengths or the figures representing the amountswhich the dilt'erent lengths specily, the miniature scale (S upon thelett hand end ot the check would promptly show the alterations. Theminiature scale also calls attention to the fact that there must be acorresponding scale upon the right end indicating an amount not lessthan the amount payable.

iin the present Atorm ot check shown in Fig. l, the body portion is Tinches in length and the miniature scale 0 will indicate that should theentire protective scale, 2 be removed from the body ot the check.liaving only the body portion,the check itselt would be worthless. For'further example, should the check be written Ytor ten dollars, theprotective scale 2 would be torn olll beneath the, ten dollars, removingthe entire scale up to ten dollars, leaving the check 7l inches inlength. Now suppose an attempt should be made to raise the check, thiscould not be done with the scale plainly indicating ten dollars. lt thecheck should be raised the entire protective scale 2 would have to beremoved, thus leaving thel check only 7 inches in length, rendering thecheck worthless. Again, it the check were written 'tor an amount otseveral hundred but less than a thousand, the figures ,indicatingthousands would be removed on the S inch line. lt an attempt were madeto make the figures on the protective scale on the right end readtholmnuls, the inch scale 5 would prevent the traud because a check oliover onel thousand must. be Sl inches in length.

My improved cheek is doubly protected by means of the inch scale 5 andthe miniature scalo the length ot the scale indicating the variousvalues ot the check while the miniature scale duplicates the protectivescale 2 to plainly indicate whether or not an attempt has been made toalter the lig ures upon the protective scale. From this it will be seenthat l have provided a simple and dln'ahle check which providesetlective

